740 replies to this topic

[sharpshooter]

Here's an unorthodox opinion:

 

Madonna's Die Another Day was ahead of its time and is an under-rated tune which gels with the title sequence perfectly.

[tdalton]

Here's an unorthodox opinion:

 

Madonna's Die Another Day was ahead of its time and is an under-rated tune which gels with the title sequence perfectly.

 

It does gel quite well with the title sequence.  I'll give it that. 

[dtuba]

Here's an unorthodox opinion:

 

Madonna's Die Another Day was ahead of its time and is an under-rated tune which gels with the title sequence perfectly.

You must give me the name of your audiologist.

[S K Y F A L L]

GE is still the best Bond film in 20 years.

[Hockey Mask]

This isn't an opinion but a fact...the Thunderball underwater scenes put me to sleep EVERY time.

[tdalton]

This isn't an opinion but a fact...the Thunderball underwater scenes put me to sleep EVERY time.

 

It's the same for me.  I've always found that Thunderball, despite being a ticking clock type of film, has a surprisingly low sense of urgency.

[glidrose]

GE may be PB's worst Bond film. It's certainly the series' most overrated entry.

[saint mark]

GE may be PB's worst Bond film. It's certainly the series' most overrated entry.

 

that would be SF which has such big plotholes that the whole franchise can easily climb through them without any effort and the psychic Silva would have seen that coming.

[sharpshooter]

GE may be PB's worst Bond film. It's certainly the series' most overrated entry.

Goldeneye is an important film in the context of reviving the franchise, but I can agree with the overrated comment. I think Tomorrow Never Dies is Brosnan's best Bond movie.

[Dustin]

Going to stick my neck out here...

Contrary to popular fan opinion I don't think Fleming was such a spectacular writer. Very good, and at times outstanding even - yes. But born writer - I don't think so. I think Fleming was really a born dreamer, a character constantly living with a powerful fantasy engine in the back of his mind, a machine largely running on full steam and at times threatening to take over and leaving its master helplessly behind.

Convention and the demands of his mother forced Fleming to lock away that part of his personality, to drown out the siren song of his own imagination and keep a firm lid on this compartment. But he was also in search for a safe outlet for this power, a valve beyond gin and tonic and bubbly by the case.

When he finally found it in fiction writing - after a career of journalism - the writing itself was not so much the central attraction as a means to the end of turning his fantasy (day)dreaming into something substantial. Under a different set of circumstances - and of course without the interference of his mother - Fleming might have become a film producer or a show runner for television. I dare say he might not have been any less happy with such a life.

[glidrose]

Going to stick my neck out here...

Contrary to popular fan opinion I don't think Fleming was such a spectacular writer. Very good, and at times outstanding even - yes. But born writer - I don't think so. I think Fleming was really a born dreamer, a character constantly living with a powerful fantasy engine in the back of his mind, a machine largely running on full steam and at times threatening to take over and leaving its master helplessly behind.

I agree absolutely. His prose seems to me to be too peculiarly second rate. Not always. The final chapter of YOLT is outstanding - shows Fleming had more potential. But I suspect there was some defect in Fleming's personality that prevented him writing better, but which allowed him to write the way he did. In other words, those defects are part and parcel of his peculiar charms as a writer. Take away those defects, you take away those charms. And you'd be left with a better but much less interesting writer.

[Dustin]

Much is made of Fleming's background, the upper crust of British society and the Empire and all that. Often overlooked there: Fleming's family came only into money with his grandfather, to the society they effectively belonged to the nouveaux riches, no matter how you looked at it. Or how many people in high places Fleming's mother knew and had tea with.

This was a basic stigma that put his mother all the more under pressure to find 'fitting' places for her sons, and in turn Fleming to live up to expectations. Add to that the fact he had no father figure to rebel against and thereby form his own character. How could one rebel against a dead uber-hero, a national monument in his time? And one lauded by an even bigger hero at that?

Compete he did, but against another personal hero, his older brother who by all accounts outdid him in nearly every respect for the longest time, and not just in the eyes of his mother but the public, too.

I suppose Fleming was indeed deeply unsure about his work, always afraid of failure but also always downplaying his own game, understating and dismissing his efforts while sweating blood to gain recognition, to be accepted for what he was. No doubt an explosive mix of motifs, fears and issues, also his main impetus to do what he did, write what and how we got to know his work. But in the end the result of a troubled and restless mind.

[Tiin007]

I would prefer SPECTRE's gun barrel (and all of the future ones in this rebooted era) to be at the end of the film.

 

While I did LOVE the gun barrel openings, now that the reboot has established the gun barrel at the end of each film (except for CR), I'd prefer it to remain that way., essentially as a way of demarcating between the two continuities.

 

I am a man of consistency, and if the SPECTRE gun barrel is at the beginning of the film, it will bother me way more than it should

[DaveBond21]

Another Way to Die is actually quite good, and I love the opening and the ending. I also think it fits the PTS well.

 

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[sharpshooter]

Another Way to Die is actually quite good, and I love the opening and the ending. I also think it fits the PTS well.

 

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I'll meet you half way, Dave. I think it's an okay tune in instrumental form. But I dislike the singing component.

[tdalton]

 

Another Way to Die is actually quite good, and I love the opening and the ending. I also think it fits the PTS well.

 

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I'll meet you half way, Dave. I think it's an okay tune in instrumental form. But I dislike the singing component.

 

 

Agreed.  I remember when the instrumental part of it made its debut as part of a Coca-Cola commercial back in 2008 and being really excited by what I heard, only for that to make it all the more disappointing when the final song was released.

[dtuba]

 

Another Way to Die is actually quite good, and I love the opening and the ending. I also think it fits the PTS well.

 

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I'll meet you half way, Dave. I think it's an okay tune in instrumental form. But I dislike the singing component.

 

I'll go one better, I think the instrumental and Jack White's vocal is okay, but Alicia Keys adds nothing to the song. He should have done it solo, or with his other side projects (White Stripes, Dead Weather, or especially the Raconteurs).

[Gothamite]

• Daniel Craig is the best James Bond ever (not that unorthodox around here, but say it in casual circles and people will look at you like you've shot Sean Connery's dog)
• Licence to Kill is one of the best films of the franchise
• Die Another Day, while certainly a weak film, has a charm and vitality to it that other weak Bond films (DAF and TMWTGG especially) don't have.
• The invisible car was cool and worked for that particular film.
• I like Madonna's song.
• Marvin Hamlisch's TSWLM score is better than most of the Barry scores of the Moore era.
• I love David Arnold.

Edited by Gothamite, 07 April 2015 - 09:29 AM.

[dtuba]

 

 

• Marvin Hamlisch's TSWLM score is better than most of the Barry scores of the Moore era.

 

I agree with this. Barry's score for MR was beautiful and added a sheen of sophistication to that very silly film. His scores for TMWTGG, OP and AVTAK were nice but nowhere near his best work IMO.

 

I do have a soft spot for TMWTGG theme song. There's an unorthodox opinion for you!

[Double-Oh Agent]

I like The Man With The Golden Gun too. In fact, it's in my top 10 Bond themes placing at #9.

[Silva25]

-I actually rather like Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough.

-I don't particularly care for Thunderball.

-Quantum of Solace was flawed to be sure, but it wasn't one of the worst Bond films like a lot of people claim.

-Not a big fan of Roger Moore's Bond.

-I wouldn't mind a non-White actor playing Bond.

[Odd Jobbies]

 

 

 

• Marvin Hamlisch's TSWLM score is better than most of the Barry scores of the Moore era.

 

I agree with this. Barry's score for MR was beautiful and added a sheen of sophistication to that very silly film. His scores for TMWTGG, OP and AVTAK were nice but nowhere near his best work IMO.

 

I do have a soft spot for TMWTGG theme song. There's an unorthodox opinion for you!

 

The way the theme's reprise comes in at the end of TMWTGG - as Nick Nack hangs from the boat's mast in a suitcase - is fantastic.  That wide end shot of the boat sailing off in Phang Nga Bay (been there myself on Bond pilgrimage ) as the tune kicks in is as Bond as it gets.

[sharpshooter]

I find TMWTGG to be one of the lesser soundtracks, but do think Barry did a great job with the title song melody. It's a fun tune as an instrumental.

[glidrose]

• Marvin Hamlisch's TSWLM score is better than most of the Barry scores of the Moore era.

I agree with this. Barry's score for MR was beautiful and added a sheen of sophistication to that very silly film. His scores for TMWTGG, OP and AVTAK were nice but nowhere near his best work IMO.
 
I do have a soft spot for TMWTGG theme song. There's an unorthodox opinion for you!

The way the theme's reprise comes in at the end of TMWTGG - as Nick Nack hangs from the boat's mast in a suitcase - is fantastic.  That wide end shot of the boat sailing off in Phang Nga Bay (been there myself on Bond pilgrimage ) as the tune kicks in is as Bond as it gets.

Absolutely. Great moment indeed. I too admire the instrumental version of the theme song.
 
 

I find TMWTGG to be one of the lesser soundtracks, but do think Barry did a great job with the title song melody. It's a fun tune as an instrumental.

Agreed.

[Grard Bond]

I don't.

I think this score is exellent instead of the movie itself and one of the few things I realy like about it.

Barry made the score in three weeks (I think) and did a marvelous job.

It often sounds very mysterious and exotic. It realy makes this movie better.

Edited by Grard Bond, 06 April 2015 - 06:16 PM.

[Call Billy Bob]

- I enjoy every Moore Bond film better than both of Dalton's

- The Man with the Golden Gun is a top 5 Bond film

- Casino Royale's PTS just doesn't do it for me...

[Gothamite]

• I have no problem whatsoever with a non-white actor playing James Bond as he long as he does it after Daniel Craig's 5th or 6th film.

[Shakhtar]

Oh boy, where do I begin?

 

Goldfinger and Goldeneye are the most overrated Bondfilms, especially the later.

Casino Royale (EON, ofcource) is the best (not so unorthodox, but not the most popular either)

Die Another Day is a great Bond film and best one in "adventure" genre in series. Also I think it has much more Bond vibe to it than many others, also screw that CGI-induced hatred along with "over-the-top"ness comments.

Tomorrow Never Dies is the best Brosnan's and one of the best in franchise overall

Guy Hamilton is the worst Bond director

David Arnold is the best Bond composer

TWINE is okay GoldenEye - not so much.

I'd have another film or three with wooden Lazenby in sacrifice of more skilled More just for the kicks of more bond-esque tone and less Moore shenanigans.

 

I have lots of others that would provoke majority of Bond fandom, but enough for the first time.

Edited by Shakhtar, 07 April 2015 - 01:06 PM.

[006Daltonio]

Here's a truly unpopular one and I'm honestly scared I'll get shot or something for typing these words, but... :

 

- Dr. Christmas Jones is my favorite Bond girl. I can't help it.

[AMC Hornet]

Everyone is entitled to their preferences, Daltonio.

 

I'd take Christmas Jones over Stacey Sutton any day.